April 18, 2023 • 40 mins
Joel Willis is the former Editor in Chief of the popular social media parenting brand, The Dad and co-author of the recently released book, Dad Law. He's also a loving father of two who enjoys working from home and is looking forward to dressing up and attending the next Taylor Swift concert with his daughter.
Episode Breakdown:
1:46 - Little Bites
6:05 - Getting Into What Your Kids Are Into
7:40 - Early Career At GE
9:56 - Launching of The Dad
11:42 - Work/Life Balance
14:00 - Creating Dad Content
15:47- Assembling A Creative Team
18:32 - The Dad's Growth
23:25 - Dad Law
26:40 - Dad Libs
30:50 - Rapid Father Questions
37:00 - Dad Advice
Follow Joel on Social:
@thejoelwillis
@TheJoelWillis
https://www.tiktok.com/@thejoelwillis
Father Material Website
@father_material on IG
@father_material on Twitter
Episode Breakdown:
1:46 - Little Bites
6:05 - Getting Into What Your Kids Are Into
7:40 - Early Career At GE
9:56 - Launching of The Dad
11:42 - Work/Life Balance
14:00 - Creating Dad Content
15:47- Assembling A Creative Team
18:32 - The Dad's Growth
23:25 - Dad Law
26:40 - Dad Libs
30:50 - Rapid Father Questions
37:00 - Dad Advice
Follow Joel on Social:
@thejoelwillis
@TheJoelWillis
https://www.tiktok.com/@thejoelwillis
Father Material Website
@father_material on IG
@father_material on Twitter
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
parenting, first of all, it's basically impossible, like raising humans into like happy adults.
(00:07):
It's so hard and so difficult, but it's the most fulfilling thing in the world. So just that right
there, there's so much opportunity for hilarious content, but also just very like sentimental.
Though at that point in my life, I'm being asked, I would have taken a job running a media brand
for all sorts of things. It wouldn't have had to be about being in debt. It could have been like a
(00:33):
meme brand about like basket weaving and I'd be all over it. It signed me up. I got lucky.
Every artist has his or her own creative process to help them hone their craft and execute their
vision. But nothing throws a wrench and a routine quite like having a baby. How to create
a justice to still find that time and energy needed to dedicate to their work. How has
(00:53):
becoming a father impacted their creative process and material they create? I'm Tyler Guilden.
I'm the writer, producer, director, and podcast host. Most importantly, I'm a father at two.
A four-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl. Yep, there are 367 days apart.
Hopefully my guests can help me and possibly some my listeners,
(01:16):
with some much needed guidance from their experience, juggling parenthood and being a creative.
This is father material.
Today's episode I was speaking with Joel Willis, father at two former editor and chief of the
dad, the very popular social media parenting brand. Also has a new book coming out called
(01:36):
"Dadlaw" pretty much a master of all things parenting and content. I'm really excited about this
conversation, so let's just jump right into it. Joel, how you doing? I'm going to show my face with
my blast of my snack here. What is that snack? Have you ever had little bites?
Have I ever had little bites? Who has not had little bites? My kids love them, but I end up eating
(01:59):
more of them than they do. My only issue is there's five muffins in here. I need 15. Give me
large bites. I actually aren't there like four. I think there's five. I think five would be generous.
I'm pretty sure it's just four. Maybe it's five. Is it a four piece? We're a big deal. See
there way. Not enough. There's not enough little bites. Did they used to be called mini muffins
(02:24):
or did I just make up the name mini muffins? I feel like growing up there were mini muffins and
then they became little bites. I'm not sure if my wife sometimes will say on accidental say like
tiny bites and my daughter and I think that's hilarious was come up with different words.
You know like the mini mull. Yeah, mini-skilled pastries. That's what's actually that's funny.
(02:46):
My wife this work said that's why it doesn't pay attention when she's making my kids breakfast
and just wants to shut them up so she just gives them things. This morning my son had woke me up at
I don't know. Five something and he he he he he he he he he he he he he what is bad he's four years
all these gone through the whole process he what is bad so I put it back and then I I put myself to
you know back to sleep I put myself to sleep then I went back to sleep also. So this morning for breakfast my
(03:10):
wife took the shift first to give me a little bit more rest and then also I noticed that she gave my son
for breakfast little bites they had little bites and then a pop tart and then she was giving him
a quassant and I said I was like how many calories you try to feed the skid and she's like
honestly I didn't even realize what I was I think she was just like you know my kids are four and three
(03:33):
and they're just like asking for things so she's just like okay please be quiet dad's not here
I'm just dealing with it and I was like what are you feeding these children yeah that's just like a lot of
carboloads there's a lot of people living for a marathon or something over there she at least admitted she's
like I honestly was not paying attention I guess she just she forgot which kid was asking for what and
(03:54):
didn't realize it was all the same child asking for all of that so yeah why the breakfast he had
yeah so how how old you have us on and a daughter also I believe right do I do my daughter's 13
and my son just turned 11 last Friday so you were you were definitely at a at a different stage
(04:16):
got the early teens the double digits I'm at my son is four my daughter's three so I'm definitely
a little bit behind I can't imagine how much I guess things have to be different as they get older I'm
sure there's big difference between four and three and yeah you got 11 you got four and three that's the
best man so could all the cliches are true it's like cherish the moments all that crap it's so true
(04:42):
that's the best like babies people don't say this people are afraid to talk about this but babies are
terrible they just cry all the time and it's hard to really make that connection but once they start talking
it's the best and it just keeps getting better keeps getting better yeah I think it keeps getting
but maybe it's plateauing now on the teenage years oh no oh yeah it's amazing though because yeah even
(05:08):
just in four years and three years there's already little things they did that I miss so I'd
imagine by the time they're 14 and 11 there's so many of those innocent isms and whatnot that
your kids did and now you're like oh now they're like I know Joe come my kids are like people now
but they're not people compared to your children who are literally people yeah I don't want to break
your heart or anything this early in the podcast but my daughter and I were like we're really close we're like
(05:34):
good friends and love hanging out and stuff and now lately she doesn't want to hang out as much
like she'll go to a room or hang out with her friends more and oh it's the worst yeah my son is very very attached
to me and yeah I can imagine that that must be tough when they get to that age and you're like
I'm sure you still want to be all your daddy's girl but at the same time she's 14 and she has friends and
(05:57):
you got to have to let her be so how do you how do you straddle that yeah yeah I mean it's tough you I mean my
number one thing we're getting right into it this is this is the following here is get into what
your kids are into so whatever it is they're into whatever stage however old they are what they're
interests are try to get into that right my daughter was like three or four like yours she was real into
(06:22):
my little pony so all of a sudden I had a favorite my little pony I did it was it was Flutter shy
do you miss Flutter shy did you do you good times you guys had I gotta do I get I get the fandom
around my little pony I understand it I can't mix with it it's my little pony still around because I
(06:46):
only remember the growing up the the song is the song still the song you're like my little pony there's
no friends like pony friends I remember those commercials all the time I think that song makes this it
sounds a little different than what you were just singing and why not hit a get on tune if you have
or not hit my little pony evolved it's musical you know it's a bill of peace beyond me I'll just say this
(07:12):
Tyler you might have been a little off key I think you could run this on YouTube and you won't get hit
with a DMCA copyright strike is what I'm saying it's not that spot on but it was pretty good is it
techno now what's the new version of the my little pony song it's probably they probably have
a whole TV show now this probably a whole different world of it yeah augmented reality video game or something
(07:34):
I don't know I don't mean I'm out of it I'm out of it now too so have you been someone always at your
core was a creative and trying to create things I understand you were at GE for a while before you kind of
found the death so it spines me where these creative genes came from because a lot of the podcast is not just
only on fatherhood but also that type of material you create and how you kind of balance the
(07:56):
two worlds so where did this creative I guess urge come from sure I mean I think everybody has it to a certain
extent and that's definitely true for me I've always been like super nerdy about comedy just really
love comedy entertainment all that stuff even though I'm very introverted at heart but in college and
in high school I never really gave a lot of thought like what I wanted to be when I when I grew up you know
(08:20):
it was like what's the safe path what where can I make a comfortable living and it's fine you know
and won't require too much work right it led me to a tech career so I was a GE leading data science
initiatives for jet engine engineering which creative fulfillment speaking is it's not for a high
(08:43):
on the charts it was cool people I worked with their cool work was interesting but towards the end
I felt like my soul was dying a little every day with the long commutes and then in this meetings
and I was climbing the corporate ladder and all that like I got to get out of here I put together
(09:05):
what I call a five-year corporate escape plan with my wife and then like I like the sound of that
yeah yeah it's like learn how to create content you know like get out there and basically just
start writing jokes on Twitter things like that eventually get published places with its longer form writing
(09:26):
stuff like that I wrote a novel I did a children's book and all these things looking for that
future path whatever it may be eventually I connected with Jill Smokler from Scary Mommy and I wrote
for Scary Mommy for two years and then when they're parent company on intended wanted to start a
(09:50):
dad brand I was I was in the right place at the right time. Got it so essentially I guess you launched the
dad with them that was a co-partner shift type of an idea it wasn't something you came to them with
it was more of organically you were there writing some dad stuff they wanted to launch dad's you're the
guy to do it yeah it was just so serendipitous it was perfect I was I was already you know doing things for
(10:13):
them you know like are you interested in possibly leading up a dad brand was it like yes of course at that
time where I was in corporate life and stuff like this is an acceleration on that five-year plan and it's
a dream job absolutely and then we got to be in that you know collaborative partnership type of
(10:33):
arrangement or we got to talk about what it could be ideally what it should look like what the team should
be like all of that stuff from from the start and then I got to join as essentially a salary to
employee for a media company so it's kind of the best of both worlds in terms of you know working for
a company versus like you know starting or anything right well and I guess so where were you in terms of
(10:58):
how how how when did you become a father I guess how long were you working at GE as a dad or
guess you know how many years of fatherhood wisdom did you have that you were bringing that dad yeah yeah
by that point I was or I was I was dead inside no I'm just kidding
the white my daughter's dad inside you were dad inside my hair was my hair was very gray already I'll say
(11:21):
that my my daughter's born 2009 and I left to start the dad in 2017 yeah 17 my daughter was at eight
my son was like five so I was well on the on the dad journey at that point for sure I was in the
thick of it yeah so how did you balance I think I've heard you say this before when you're
(11:43):
interviewed you know you were a dad in your professional life and you know and your personal life you
you're getting to kind of do the same it both ways so I guess how did one impact the other obviously naturally
you're pulling from your actual life as a dad to bring you know content but I guess yeah I guess how
did you balance the two worlds of a at one point where is it ever like all right dad stopped
mining us for content like how did you ever draw a line they were never like that they've never been
(12:08):
like they're very outgoing hilarious kids so they're they're down for that sort of game for sure
if they ever were like don't do that I would definitely not do that for sure but including them in
content aside I think the balance I really can't say enough for working from home honestly
(12:29):
when I was at my last corporate job I was in one hour commute each way and I would I would drive
to a parking lot get on the bus and take a bus downtown and go to a new work and then come back you know
and then at night I was I was teaching at a university I was doing a parenting thing I was doing
(12:50):
scary mommy stuff like I was so busy that I didn't have a good work life balance and even though
the dad was an intense amount of work I saved so much time by being able to work from home and
simplify my commute my life that I was working harder than ever but getting to spend more time
with my family than ever too which is important because technically you can make the case that you're doing
(13:14):
research that you're that is a part of your job at the dad is to be a dad as much as possible so
therefore you shouldn't have to go to an office you have a good you have a good cell there that's right
I need the fodder I need the father fodder for the for the memes if my kids aren't frustrating me then
I don't have anything to joke about exactly you got to put you got to put that fuel in the tank so
but what was it about being a dad like because in theory I guess if you had a creative gene in a bug to
(13:40):
kind of get out of corporate world and go into some sort of content what was it about being a dad was just
what you felt was the most organic to you because that's where you were in your life or you know what
what is it about fatherhood that strikes you as such a a unique place to build content from
all man I think parenting first of all it's basically impossible like raising humans into like
(14:07):
happy adults like it's just it's it's so hard and so difficult but it's the most fulfilling thing in the world
so just that right there there's so much an opportunity for for hilarious content but also just
very like sentimental content as well like I truly believe that raising kids and parenting it's like it's the
(14:29):
meaning of life for me it's not for me but for me even when I was like young 20s and I would
make like a bucket list of things I want to do and like being a dad was always on there it's like yeah
I definitely you know want to do that so that was always there I think though at that point in my
life I'm being asked I would have taken a job running a media brand for all sorts of things it wouldn't have
(14:55):
had to be being a dad it could have been like a meme brand about like basket weaving and I'd be all over it
sign me up so I got lucky it sounds exciting you know listen maybe you could make it happen
this if you have enough enough comedic chops you could make that work I don't know if the basket
would be as exciting as the dad but who knows if there's some weaver's out there no I think it worked out
(15:20):
for the better for everyone that it that it that happened to be about being a dad it was it was fantastic
yeah no I mean I couldn't have asked for a better fit and I've said it before but I'm just like
so grateful for some spider and the leaders there to give me a shot at being able to have that job
but also just like being that position to begin with was just very very lucky
(15:45):
when you're hiring at the dad how important is it to hire other dads or parents I guess when you're building a
team of content and also not every I'm sure there are many you know the dad is sound singular
but there's many different experiences of being a dad so I'm just curious how you went about
creating content or assembling a team to kind of put out these different you know voices out there
(16:08):
yeah the singularity of the was the brand name always bugged me a little bit
that's tricky to navigate I always wanted to make sure when we post content we would say like we and we'd
be very plural about it so that people recognize that it's a team and not an individual and also we would
say in our description like the dad is not a person it's a lifestyle things like that right so there's that
(16:29):
other than that I mean yeah that's an interesting question we I wouldn't care so much about
if somebody was a dad or not personally like not not really at all it was more about the creative
talent ability to create interesting and funny and good content and in fact our first hire deputy editor of
(16:53):
the dad was a mom named Ali probest and she's just a creative powerhouse just like so good like
an idea machine and it was it's way more important that she's just amazing creatively than then
that she's you know male or or dad right so no that wasn't that wasn't really too much of a consideration
(17:18):
there happens that experiences definitely helps so being a parent in general I think is definitely
a bonus but even still I guess you can make the case that even if you just had a dad you know you're
not a parent but you had a dad you know it's that kind of multi-layer whether you're a dad you're
married to a dad you had a dad you know there's there's different layers of that no it's funny you say
(17:40):
that the we and those models because you know I was you know at a lead daily for for a long time and we had
that same type of trick with like being like the voice of Jen Y and millennials but then like you know
we didn't want to alien anyone else so we would say like it's a millennial mindset so it's not just
millennials it's the mindset of the millennials and that was how we would expand to like Gen X and Z
(18:02):
and etc. Yeah when you have an identity based brand it's a tricky tricky waterstown navigate
for sure but yeah you don't need to you don't need to be a dad to write for the dad you don't need to
be a dad to follow the dad we all know some dads in our lives right and they're they're quirky you know
(18:22):
they have dad jokes whatever whatever so yeah just having that awareness of what it's like is all
what all that you need so when did the what did the dad really take off because I feel like there was a
certain point where all of sudden it just got really big and I'm always following these different
publishers just from being in the digital publisher space was there a certain point or a certain
a certain meme or a certain video I mean I know you guys were doing some fantastic video work I actually
(18:48):
know some of the guys who were working on your team doing some video stuff so what was there any
certain piece of content that helped or a certain launch of anything that made it get bigger
oh it's just kind of organic growth oh I think it it doesn't flows right I think it's like a little
stair step approach the early days were intensely exciting in terms of growth because even every
(19:12):
every week there was some kind of hit that took off and we'd see a big stair step and like oh I got
just thrilling right we started a zero followers on Facebook we actually acquired a brand that I
started called the GladStort on Instagram and Twitter so we didn't have to start from zero there which is
(19:32):
helpful visitor tough fair tough platforms for that we did we did like an intern on company poll how many
followers on Facebook would we have after two months we ended up and people were saying 10,000,
20,000, 50,000 we ended up over a hundred thousand and two months which was just beyond my wildest
(19:55):
expectations there were probably videos and memes during that time that contributed maybe more than others
but I really feel like it was just more consistency you know post in every other hour
every single day nonstop not missing a slot everyone of those pieces of content is a lot of
(20:16):
very ticket and social algorithms sort of smelt trust me I know the world well I remember yeah I'd like
yeah we first broke a million you know Facebook or we got a hundred thousand YouTube I mean it's cool
when you're feeling like you're really building something and actually getting an audience and engaging
with it and yeah you guys put out such you know it's relatable fun content and through this I was following
(20:38):
you guys before I was a dad and I was still getting a kick out of it and then once I became a dad
I was just like okay now I'm now I'm like really in this and invested so you know it's it's cool to
connect because I've just been following for a while and now the dad likely all part of the same
bustle digital studio universe as they've acquired everybody of whether you're the voice or the
(21:01):
mindset of millennials or you're the you're the dad or you're anybody really you're just a human
now that's where you live yeah digital web the elite dad the millennial mindset dad that speaks to me
I mean that's where this podcast came from you know a lot of what I enjoy doing at elite daily
(21:21):
was I was a millennial I was making content for the most part that I resonated with so it felt authentic
and that's why I launched this podcast and I looked for other parenting endeavors some clients I
worked with are you know brands who you know produce you know kids stuff because it feels the most genuine
to me because it's what I'm experiencing and I feel like you a lot of comedy or you know just creative
(21:41):
comes from your own experience so you know being a dad is definitely the largest looming thing in my
life right now that it doesn't appear to be going anywhere for some time yeah that's right yeah it brings
up a lot of emotions so at the end of the day you want to be able to scroll through some of those
through content that drives and makes you not feel like you're in this thing alone for sure for sure
(22:04):
yeah and you mentioned video I did see that you talked to Rob King which is awesome
based on that I spoke to Rob and and I know Ben Stumpf very I've know Ben for years we started
like UCB you know class together years ago and I've been I've bugged him to do the dad content
for like three four years now you know we have we have it across our project yet but I'm on his list
(22:27):
somewhere but he did a bunch of stuff for me and I'll eat daily you know we've we've done a couple
things together so he's great to yeah Ben's amazing Rob's amazing Nick Fabiano all great guys
yeah the video studio for the dad was a force and just having that level of production quality
from the very get go was like a huge amplifier too right see talk about specific pieces of content
(22:53):
I mean there were definitely stars all over the place that took off but one of the first like mega
ones that got us like in the news and stuff was out of the video studio and it was a fucking break
if you remember that one you had to believe that I don't know no yeah I remember I remember that one
I was a good you know I guess satirical type of spot so I do remember that and yeah I mean I feel like
(23:18):
you know a lot of great content has come out of the dad so I've ever appreciated following so tell me now
about dad law as you build off of more dad content so tell me about the book what about dad law
dad law yeah so this I it's a little bit of a longer story than you may expect but I want to tell
it all a few years into the dad um Ali wanted to depy editor the dad she wanted to write a book
(23:46):
she had this amazing idea for a book very involved in in content driven and amazing the leadership
at the time the company said that seems like a lot let's try something smaller and easier and so
we created basically a book of memes called the dad book myself published it we created a daily calendar
(24:08):
dadism which did extremely well all these things it really well so we wrote another book called the dad law
and self published it and now even though I'm no longer with the dad this book is being published
this year and now it's called dad law so it's just dad law and it's basically a reimagining of
(24:32):
that book with the traditional publisher and we are super excited about it so are you
a writer on it a co-writer on it I guess who is this book coming out from the dad it's also what's the
I guess who who is the author what is the origin of this dad so here here you go I don't know if you
publish video from these things but here here's the here's the dad here is I'm gonna say
(24:56):
"Dud Dad Law" this is dad law written by Ali Probst and Joel Willis so we are the authors
on this thing it's also affiliated with the dad of course and it's published by a chronicle
chronicle books and so inside it what is it what is the context of it it's it's filled with
anecdotes it's filled with memes it's filled with laws what is the you know what is the context
(25:20):
the idea is when you become a dad and apparently there are certain things that you just
catch yourself doing like immediately and I would take it a step further and say you have to
do those things those are the dad law those things you have to do like and it's just a collection of those
things separated by different topics so dad vice and cliches is section X well the first one up
(25:47):
section X article nine a dad more or minus family if it ain't broke don't fix it
that's it's it's hundreds or thousands of those sorts of things and if you're eating like me you
probably think you're so I probably don't do that many cliches that things but if you flip through
(26:10):
it's like oh my god I do all of this and that's it yeah every dad is different but I'm sure there's
that there's some underlying themes that probably mostly all of us or anybody yeah you know you have
kids and also you just to everyone says I don't want to turn into my own father but then like
somehow you just turn into your own dad it's like those progressive commercials that are actually pretty funny
(26:31):
of like we can't you know we can't help you from turning into your parent those are like kind of
give me a left so let's play actually speaking of dad isums and things let's do a quick game of
dad lives you down for some dad lives I love it I love it I guess do this so give me let me get to adjectives
(26:51):
oh my god I gotta I gotta reframe my state of mind for this I haven't heard you do this before what
what are we looking for here are they very dad related adjectives or just be anything okay
hilarious and smelly I mean if you if you play adlips with like my kids or any kid really I think
(27:16):
that like all the answers are like fart but poop and stuff right and they do work and usually they do work
you know but the makers of you know I'm a bad man to know that I keep that in mind give me a
adverb um hastily all right let me get a number I gotta go three on this I gotta go number three
(27:44):
let me get another adjective smart let me get an emotion
devastated let me get a song lyric that's long lyric okay um haters gonna hate I'm going to see
(28:10):
Taylor Swift with my daughter this summer and I'm so excited we're gonna we're gonna dress up
from with our favorite Taylor Swift album like inspired by our favorite Taylor Swift album it's
gonna be incredible she is she is Swifty oh yeah I mean me too well you said you gotta get to you said
it get into what your kids are into so you are now rocking Taylor Swift I like it 100% you know I'm
(28:38):
ever more I love ever more now she is a braid in the back of my flannel shirt and I told her I want
to wear a braid to the concert like just like that she doesn't want she doesn't want me to do that
so take care of you me a body part oh I gotta go but we're gone but I like it all right give me a period of time
(29:00):
um we'll say the late 1900s I guess I guess not a time period I guess I length of time a length of time
but that works Taylor um we'll say a century that what you mean century perfect perfect
(29:24):
uh let's get me a uh favorite internet meme um I'll go with the uh this is fine dog
you know I mean one in the fire yep and I get me one more uh and be off of the verb um well we
(29:49):
here we'll go for it we'll do for it I'm gonna keep it soft and more it all right let's run this one back
as a hilarious father of two smelly kids I can easily say that being a dad is the number three
smartest thing I ever happened to me when we first found out we were gonna be parents my first reaction was
pure devastation as I shouted haters gonna hate at the top of my butt as I knew my life would be
(30:13):
changed for a century being a father's a lot like this is fine dog every day I just want to fart with joy
wow that's it's her now better than I expected that was that was one of the best ones I think that
really uh that hit it that hit nicely that was that was art that was art that you know that is how
(30:35):
arts made why do artists spend all the time working out things when they could just do something as simple
as that just add a little I think that's what they're doing I think Taylor Swift songs are just
dad lives just a series of ad lives that was amazing thank you so let's yeah no that was great let's
see a couple of rapid father questions all right so these are some would you rather which rather
changed dirty diapers are a symbol kids toys oh man I don't mind either of those things just I guess a
(31:02):
symbol kids toys yeah be in charge of the morning routine or the bedtime routine bedtime for sure
not a morning person be in charge of cutting toenails or attending pediatrician appointments
I don't mind you that this thing's the toenails good it's less time would you rather your kid wake up two
(31:24):
hours earlier or stay up two hours past bedtime two hours past bedtime for sure yeah easy
would you rather get a call to come to your kid school because they poop themselves or because they
cursed out their teacher I got 11 and 13 year olds they poop themselves oh lord we've got a problem
(31:46):
I cursed out of the teacher and stuff like this point so I guess well this one's not real well I
guess you kind of said it at the beginning but what's your what's your kid's favorite food to eat or take
off their plate that yeah you wouldn't probably eat if you never kids how would you yeah little bites
little bites are up there I would say my daughter loves mac and cheese though I probably wouldn't
(32:11):
need as much mac and cheese if it weren't for that so we're mac and cheese yes what's your biggest
dadism which that you would that you could proclaim from the dad law from the book what's your
biggest dadism something you can't constantly give you crap for I'm certain that it is in
year and it may and I think it's something that I came up with so it's not like a cliche thing but
(32:34):
you know you correct me if I'm wrong but I say it is all the time there'll be like we're such
and such in the houses of mass and I say the first step to finding something is to start cleaning up
I say that all the time and now I just go first step to finding something and they know the rest
I'm certain it's in there just because it's something I say all the time but I don't know that that's
(32:59):
necessarily like a cliche what's your favorite dad joke you have just like a terrible dad joke
that always makes you laugh and similar to that your kids would be like okay great you know another one of
those dad jokes there's so many things about the dad that is a lie when it comes to me like I don't
(33:20):
I don't tell anybody if this isn't being reported but I don't I don't like grilling
I'd rather cook on a cast iron skillet and have all of my kitchen I see a lot of content from the
dad about manning the grill and being on that barbecue don't tell anybody I don't I don't know
cargo shorts I have the white new balance but only for video shoots and so I don't think that I
(33:52):
tell too many dad jokes like the cheesy kind I don't think I do I started to like ironically
and it kind of stuck a little bit I think that's how they get you which is another dadism but I do
get asked this a lot so I do have one handy and ready to go let's count you're handy one give me
your hand it's is more of a story really but last night I rearranged the labels on my wife's
(34:19):
spices and the spice cabinet and she hasn't found out yet but the time is cumin
I like it I like it I like it but I said that one on the radio and I just made it my daughter
earring it and she rolls her eyes so her genomes falls asleep oh that's that but that's what dad
(34:45):
jokes do what's nice like my kids are at an age now we're like dad jokes are great it's
any jokes great I mean like my kids think I'm the funniest greatest thing in the world so I'm just
gonna keep I'm gonna keep reaping the benefits of that until they get to the point where they're like go away dad
only my wife and also rise right now that's I'm at the point where like my wife just rolls her eyes but the
kids just love it and that's what I see it's the kids energy that's the audience I'm trying to please
(35:08):
never my wife I don't please my wife never my wife that's right they're feeding them bear they're
feeding them bear with the laughter and you're gonna keep that you're gonna keep ample fine
that until it comes back to bite on when they uh when they don't they don't care for it anymore
it will come so what's up and you learned from your first kid that helped you with your second
kid something that you went to known had you not had a first child oh um I feel like it's a little
(35:37):
more universal but like I feel like with your first one you're very concerned about everything maybe
little overbearing in particular about things which is good it shows that you care um I think I think you
can overdo it I think having a little bit of a they'll figure it out on their own kind of mentality is
(35:59):
definitely helpful and I think that only comes with the second the second child what gives you the most
pride as a father oh my gosh there's so many things if it's taken me a while to answer it's just because
there's there's a lot my kids are are amazing they're the best just so so funny and intelligent I
(36:22):
guess I would say this like I feel very proud when they can do things completely without me
I guess they don't need my help and they can go off and do something maybe they have a problem and they
just figure it out on their own and they have that confidence to be able to think like I can figure this
(36:42):
out and then they do and then they they've accomplished it because that's what parenting is all about it's like
raising your kids to get to the point where they don't need you at all just as terrible
like just trying to face you try to face yourself out that's all you're trying to do is make yourself
less needed yeah yeah I'm gonna be obsolete so when they when they do that I'm like yes I'm doing
(37:06):
my job that's great and any advice for new dads or you know expecting dads of things that maybe you
botched out the gate something that you maybe did that you're like well maybe back in time
my maybe shouldn't have done that or just a learning experience that you could help one new dad
maybe avoid I think the nature of that like what do you what do you regret question it can tend to
(37:30):
instill some fear and new dads like there's going to be all these things that I need to be careful not to
do or all regret it or whatever so I want to answer it that way I'll just say this just try your best
like just show up do your thing don't worry about it you're gonna mess some stuff out probably
definitely you will so instead my advice will be this take lots of pictures and videos
(37:54):
social media gets a bad racket rightfully so for a lot of reasons sometimes I'm like why am I
posting on social media all the time why am I doing this what's the point but then I get hit with like
memories like 10 years ago you know such and such and I'm like I yes this is why
so take take this photos and videos you will definitely regret that if you don't so then you have
(38:18):
all that stuff look back on all right I love it and leave me off with your definition of a good father what's
the definition in your mind of a good dad is a good dad is someone who tries is you know does
their best that's it I mean being involved like a dad is involved good dad is involved in tries
(38:45):
involved tries and eats tiny bites whenever whenever he has the chance the microscopic bites
the very very teeny nipples I think they're teeny nipples I like it contact the nvesto marketing people
(39:08):
I don't know thank you so much for hopping on yeah love it thanks for having me
my thanks to Joel for taking the time to hop on the podcast was really good to connect with him he's
obviously somebody who's been able to harness being a father into producing content more than most
people I know so he's done a really great job at that and really great guy and yeah looking forward to
(39:29):
checking out dad law if you want to follow him on social you could check him out at the Joel Willis that's
the Joel J.L. Willis W. I. L. L. I. S. on Twitter Instagram and please subscribe to the podcast like
review share with your friends always appreciate the support since we spoke so much about little bites
I think I'm going to go have some chocolate chip little bites take a bag for my kids I'm Tyler Gillman
(39:51):
this is father material
father material that my daddy I work my daddy he and I can do it by you.
parenting, first of all, it's basically impossible, like raising humans into like happy adults.
(00:07):
It's so hard and so difficult, but it's the most fulfilling thing in the world. So just that right
there, there's so much opportunity for hilarious content, but also just very like sentimental.
Though at that point in my life, I'm being asked, I would have taken a job running a media brand
for all sorts of things. It wouldn't have had to be about being in debt. It could have been like a
(00:33):
meme brand about like basket weaving and I'd be all over it. It signed me up. I got lucky.
Every artist has his or her own creative process to help them hone their craft and execute their
vision. But nothing throws a wrench and a routine quite like having a baby. How to create
a justice to still find that time and energy needed to dedicate to their work. How has
(00:53):
becoming a father impacted their creative process and material they create? I'm Tyler Guilden.
I'm the writer, producer, director, and podcast host. Most importantly, I'm a father at two.
A four-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl. Yep, there are 367 days apart.
Hopefully my guests can help me and possibly some my listeners,
(01:16):
with some much needed guidance from their experience, juggling parenthood and being a creative.
This is father material.
Today's episode I was speaking with Joel Willis, father at two former editor and chief of the
dad, the very popular social media parenting brand. Also has a new book coming out called
(01:36):
"Dadlaw" pretty much a master of all things parenting and content. I'm really excited about this
conversation, so let's just jump right into it. Joel, how you doing? I'm going to show my face with
my blast of my snack here. What is that snack? Have you ever had little bites?
Have I ever had little bites? Who has not had little bites? My kids love them, but I end up eating
(01:59):
more of them than they do. My only issue is there's five muffins in here. I need 15. Give me
large bites. I actually aren't there like four. I think there's five. I think five would be generous.
I'm pretty sure it's just four. Maybe it's five. Is it a four piece? We're a big deal. See
there way. Not enough. There's not enough little bites. Did they used to be called mini muffins
(02:24):
or did I just make up the name mini muffins? I feel like growing up there were mini muffins and
then they became little bites. I'm not sure if my wife sometimes will say on accidental say like
tiny bites and my daughter and I think that's hilarious was come up with different words.
You know like the mini mull. Yeah, mini-skilled pastries. That's what's actually that's funny.
(02:46):
My wife this work said that's why it doesn't pay attention when she's making my kids breakfast
and just wants to shut them up so she just gives them things. This morning my son had woke me up at
I don't know. Five something and he he he he he he he he he he he he he what is bad he's four years
all these gone through the whole process he what is bad so I put it back and then I I put myself to
you know back to sleep I put myself to sleep then I went back to sleep also. So this morning for breakfast my
(03:10):
wife took the shift first to give me a little bit more rest and then also I noticed that she gave my son
for breakfast little bites they had little bites and then a pop tart and then she was giving him
a quassant and I said I was like how many calories you try to feed the skid and she's like
honestly I didn't even realize what I was I think she was just like you know my kids are four and three
(03:33):
and they're just like asking for things so she's just like okay please be quiet dad's not here
I'm just dealing with it and I was like what are you feeding these children yeah that's just like a lot of
carboloads there's a lot of people living for a marathon or something over there she at least admitted she's
like I honestly was not paying attention I guess she just she forgot which kid was asking for what and
(03:54):
didn't realize it was all the same child asking for all of that so yeah why the breakfast he had
yeah so how how old you have us on and a daughter also I believe right do I do my daughter's 13
and my son just turned 11 last Friday so you were you were definitely at a at a different stage
(04:16):
got the early teens the double digits I'm at my son is four my daughter's three so I'm definitely
a little bit behind I can't imagine how much I guess things have to be different as they get older I'm
sure there's big difference between four and three and yeah you got 11 you got four and three that's the
best man so could all the cliches are true it's like cherish the moments all that crap it's so true
(04:42):
that's the best like babies people don't say this people are afraid to talk about this but babies are
terrible they just cry all the time and it's hard to really make that connection but once they start talking
it's the best and it just keeps getting better keeps getting better yeah I think it keeps getting
but maybe it's plateauing now on the teenage years oh no oh yeah it's amazing though because yeah even
(05:08):
just in four years and three years there's already little things they did that I miss so I'd
imagine by the time they're 14 and 11 there's so many of those innocent isms and whatnot that
your kids did and now you're like oh now they're like I know Joe come my kids are like people now
but they're not people compared to your children who are literally people yeah I don't want to break
your heart or anything this early in the podcast but my daughter and I were like we're really close we're like
(05:34):
good friends and love hanging out and stuff and now lately she doesn't want to hang out as much
like she'll go to a room or hang out with her friends more and oh it's the worst yeah my son is very very attached
to me and yeah I can imagine that that must be tough when they get to that age and you're like
I'm sure you still want to be all your daddy's girl but at the same time she's 14 and she has friends and
(05:57):
you got to have to let her be so how do you how do you straddle that yeah yeah I mean it's tough you I mean my
number one thing we're getting right into it this is this is the following here is get into what
your kids are into so whatever it is they're into whatever stage however old they are what they're
interests are try to get into that right my daughter was like three or four like yours she was real into
(06:22):
my little pony so all of a sudden I had a favorite my little pony I did it was it was Flutter shy
do you miss Flutter shy did you do you good times you guys had I gotta do I get I get the fandom
around my little pony I understand it I can't mix with it it's my little pony still around because I
(06:46):
only remember the growing up the the song is the song still the song you're like my little pony there's
no friends like pony friends I remember those commercials all the time I think that song makes this it
sounds a little different than what you were just singing and why not hit a get on tune if you have
or not hit my little pony evolved it's musical you know it's a bill of peace beyond me I'll just say this
(07:12):
Tyler you might have been a little off key I think you could run this on YouTube and you won't get hit
with a DMCA copyright strike is what I'm saying it's not that spot on but it was pretty good is it
techno now what's the new version of the my little pony song it's probably they probably have
a whole TV show now this probably a whole different world of it yeah augmented reality video game or something
(07:34):
I don't know I don't mean I'm out of it I'm out of it now too so have you been someone always at your
core was a creative and trying to create things I understand you were at GE for a while before you kind of
found the death so it spines me where these creative genes came from because a lot of the podcast is not just
only on fatherhood but also that type of material you create and how you kind of balance the
(07:56):
two worlds so where did this creative I guess urge come from sure I mean I think everybody has it to a certain
extent and that's definitely true for me I've always been like super nerdy about comedy just really
love comedy entertainment all that stuff even though I'm very introverted at heart but in college and
in high school I never really gave a lot of thought like what I wanted to be when I when I grew up you know
(08:20):
it was like what's the safe path what where can I make a comfortable living and it's fine you know
and won't require too much work right it led me to a tech career so I was a GE leading data science
initiatives for jet engine engineering which creative fulfillment speaking is it's not for a high
(08:43):
on the charts it was cool people I worked with their cool work was interesting but towards the end
I felt like my soul was dying a little every day with the long commutes and then in this meetings
and I was climbing the corporate ladder and all that like I got to get out of here I put together
(09:05):
what I call a five-year corporate escape plan with my wife and then like I like the sound of that
yeah yeah it's like learn how to create content you know like get out there and basically just
start writing jokes on Twitter things like that eventually get published places with its longer form writing
(09:26):
stuff like that I wrote a novel I did a children's book and all these things looking for that
future path whatever it may be eventually I connected with Jill Smokler from Scary Mommy and I wrote
for Scary Mommy for two years and then when they're parent company on intended wanted to start a
(09:50):
dad brand I was I was in the right place at the right time. Got it so essentially I guess you launched the
dad with them that was a co-partner shift type of an idea it wasn't something you came to them with
it was more of organically you were there writing some dad stuff they wanted to launch dad's you're the
guy to do it yeah it was just so serendipitous it was perfect I was I was already you know doing things for
(10:13):
them you know like are you interested in possibly leading up a dad brand was it like yes of course at that
time where I was in corporate life and stuff like this is an acceleration on that five-year plan and it's
a dream job absolutely and then we got to be in that you know collaborative partnership type of
(10:33):
arrangement or we got to talk about what it could be ideally what it should look like what the team should
be like all of that stuff from from the start and then I got to join as essentially a salary to
employee for a media company so it's kind of the best of both worlds in terms of you know working for
a company versus like you know starting or anything right well and I guess so where were you in terms of
(10:58):
how how how when did you become a father I guess how long were you working at GE as a dad or
guess you know how many years of fatherhood wisdom did you have that you were bringing that dad yeah yeah
by that point I was or I was I was dead inside no I'm just kidding
the white my daughter's dad inside you were dad inside my hair was my hair was very gray already I'll say
(11:21):
that my my daughter's born 2009 and I left to start the dad in 2017 yeah 17 my daughter was at eight
my son was like five so I was well on the on the dad journey at that point for sure I was in the
thick of it yeah so how did you balance I think I've heard you say this before when you're
(11:43):
interviewed you know you were a dad in your professional life and you know and your personal life you
you're getting to kind of do the same it both ways so I guess how did one impact the other obviously naturally
you're pulling from your actual life as a dad to bring you know content but I guess yeah I guess how
did you balance the two worlds of a at one point where is it ever like all right dad stopped
mining us for content like how did you ever draw a line they were never like that they've never been
(12:08):
like they're very outgoing hilarious kids so they're they're down for that sort of game for sure
if they ever were like don't do that I would definitely not do that for sure but including them in
content aside I think the balance I really can't say enough for working from home honestly
(12:29):
when I was at my last corporate job I was in one hour commute each way and I would I would drive
to a parking lot get on the bus and take a bus downtown and go to a new work and then come back you know
and then at night I was I was teaching at a university I was doing a parenting thing I was doing
(12:50):
scary mommy stuff like I was so busy that I didn't have a good work life balance and even though
the dad was an intense amount of work I saved so much time by being able to work from home and
simplify my commute my life that I was working harder than ever but getting to spend more time
with my family than ever too which is important because technically you can make the case that you're doing
(13:14):
research that you're that is a part of your job at the dad is to be a dad as much as possible so
therefore you shouldn't have to go to an office you have a good you have a good cell there that's right
I need the fodder I need the father fodder for the for the memes if my kids aren't frustrating me then
I don't have anything to joke about exactly you got to put you got to put that fuel in the tank so
but what was it about being a dad like because in theory I guess if you had a creative gene in a bug to
(13:40):
kind of get out of corporate world and go into some sort of content what was it about being a dad was just
what you felt was the most organic to you because that's where you were in your life or you know what
what is it about fatherhood that strikes you as such a a unique place to build content from
all man I think parenting first of all it's basically impossible like raising humans into like
(14:07):
happy adults like it's just it's it's so hard and so difficult but it's the most fulfilling thing in the world
so just that right there there's so much an opportunity for for hilarious content but also just
very like sentimental content as well like I truly believe that raising kids and parenting it's like it's the
(14:29):
meaning of life for me it's not for me but for me even when I was like young 20s and I would
make like a bucket list of things I want to do and like being a dad was always on there it's like yeah
I definitely you know want to do that so that was always there I think though at that point in my
life I'm being asked I would have taken a job running a media brand for all sorts of things it wouldn't have
(14:55):
had to be being a dad it could have been like a meme brand about like basket weaving and I'd be all over it
sign me up so I got lucky it sounds exciting you know listen maybe you could make it happen
this if you have enough enough comedic chops you could make that work I don't know if the basket
would be as exciting as the dad but who knows if there's some weaver's out there no I think it worked out
(15:20):
for the better for everyone that it that it that happened to be about being a dad it was it was fantastic
yeah no I mean I couldn't have asked for a better fit and I've said it before but I'm just like
so grateful for some spider and the leaders there to give me a shot at being able to have that job
but also just like being that position to begin with was just very very lucky
(15:45):
when you're hiring at the dad how important is it to hire other dads or parents I guess when you're building a
team of content and also not every I'm sure there are many you know the dad is sound singular
but there's many different experiences of being a dad so I'm just curious how you went about
creating content or assembling a team to kind of put out these different you know voices out there
(16:08):
yeah the singularity of the was the brand name always bugged me a little bit
that's tricky to navigate I always wanted to make sure when we post content we would say like we and we'd
be very plural about it so that people recognize that it's a team and not an individual and also we would
say in our description like the dad is not a person it's a lifestyle things like that right so there's that
(16:29):
other than that I mean yeah that's an interesting question we I wouldn't care so much about
if somebody was a dad or not personally like not not really at all it was more about the creative
talent ability to create interesting and funny and good content and in fact our first hire deputy editor of
(16:53):
the dad was a mom named Ali probest and she's just a creative powerhouse just like so good like
an idea machine and it was it's way more important that she's just amazing creatively than then
that she's you know male or or dad right so no that wasn't that wasn't really too much of a consideration
(17:18):
there happens that experiences definitely helps so being a parent in general I think is definitely
a bonus but even still I guess you can make the case that even if you just had a dad you know you're
not a parent but you had a dad you know it's that kind of multi-layer whether you're a dad you're
married to a dad you had a dad you know there's there's different layers of that no it's funny you say
(17:40):
that the we and those models because you know I was you know at a lead daily for for a long time and we had
that same type of trick with like being like the voice of Jen Y and millennials but then like you know
we didn't want to alien anyone else so we would say like it's a millennial mindset so it's not just
millennials it's the mindset of the millennials and that was how we would expand to like Gen X and Z
(18:02):
and etc. Yeah when you have an identity based brand it's a tricky tricky waterstown navigate
for sure but yeah you don't need to you don't need to be a dad to write for the dad you don't need to
be a dad to follow the dad we all know some dads in our lives right and they're they're quirky you know
(18:22):
they have dad jokes whatever whatever so yeah just having that awareness of what it's like is all
what all that you need so when did the what did the dad really take off because I feel like there was a
certain point where all of sudden it just got really big and I'm always following these different
publishers just from being in the digital publisher space was there a certain point or a certain
a certain meme or a certain video I mean I know you guys were doing some fantastic video work I actually
(18:48):
know some of the guys who were working on your team doing some video stuff so what was there any
certain piece of content that helped or a certain launch of anything that made it get bigger
oh it's just kind of organic growth oh I think it it doesn't flows right I think it's like a little
stair step approach the early days were intensely exciting in terms of growth because even every
(19:12):
every week there was some kind of hit that took off and we'd see a big stair step and like oh I got
just thrilling right we started a zero followers on Facebook we actually acquired a brand that I
started called the GladStort on Instagram and Twitter so we didn't have to start from zero there which is
(19:32):
helpful visitor tough fair tough platforms for that we did we did like an intern on company poll how many
followers on Facebook would we have after two months we ended up and people were saying 10,000,
20,000, 50,000 we ended up over a hundred thousand and two months which was just beyond my wildest
(19:55):
expectations there were probably videos and memes during that time that contributed maybe more than others
but I really feel like it was just more consistency you know post in every other hour
every single day nonstop not missing a slot everyone of those pieces of content is a lot of
(20:16):
very ticket and social algorithms sort of smelt trust me I know the world well I remember yeah I'd like
yeah we first broke a million you know Facebook or we got a hundred thousand YouTube I mean it's cool
when you're feeling like you're really building something and actually getting an audience and engaging
with it and yeah you guys put out such you know it's relatable fun content and through this I was following
(20:38):
you guys before I was a dad and I was still getting a kick out of it and then once I became a dad
I was just like okay now I'm now I'm like really in this and invested so you know it's it's cool to
connect because I've just been following for a while and now the dad likely all part of the same
bustle digital studio universe as they've acquired everybody of whether you're the voice or the
(21:01):
mindset of millennials or you're the you're the dad or you're anybody really you're just a human
now that's where you live yeah digital web the elite dad the millennial mindset dad that speaks to me
I mean that's where this podcast came from you know a lot of what I enjoy doing at elite daily
(21:21):
was I was a millennial I was making content for the most part that I resonated with so it felt authentic
and that's why I launched this podcast and I looked for other parenting endeavors some clients I
worked with are you know brands who you know produce you know kids stuff because it feels the most genuine
to me because it's what I'm experiencing and I feel like you a lot of comedy or you know just creative
(21:41):
comes from your own experience so you know being a dad is definitely the largest looming thing in my
life right now that it doesn't appear to be going anywhere for some time yeah that's right yeah it brings
up a lot of emotions so at the end of the day you want to be able to scroll through some of those
through content that drives and makes you not feel like you're in this thing alone for sure for sure
(22:04):
yeah and you mentioned video I did see that you talked to Rob King which is awesome
based on that I spoke to Rob and and I know Ben Stumpf very I've know Ben for years we started
like UCB you know class together years ago and I've been I've bugged him to do the dad content
for like three four years now you know we have we have it across our project yet but I'm on his list
(22:27):
somewhere but he did a bunch of stuff for me and I'll eat daily you know we've we've done a couple
things together so he's great to yeah Ben's amazing Rob's amazing Nick Fabiano all great guys
yeah the video studio for the dad was a force and just having that level of production quality
from the very get go was like a huge amplifier too right see talk about specific pieces of content
(22:53):
I mean there were definitely stars all over the place that took off but one of the first like mega
ones that got us like in the news and stuff was out of the video studio and it was a fucking break
if you remember that one you had to believe that I don't know no yeah I remember I remember that one
I was a good you know I guess satirical type of spot so I do remember that and yeah I mean I feel like
(23:18):
you know a lot of great content has come out of the dad so I've ever appreciated following so tell me now
about dad law as you build off of more dad content so tell me about the book what about dad law
dad law yeah so this I it's a little bit of a longer story than you may expect but I want to tell
it all a few years into the dad um Ali wanted to depy editor the dad she wanted to write a book
(23:46):
she had this amazing idea for a book very involved in in content driven and amazing the leadership
at the time the company said that seems like a lot let's try something smaller and easier and so
we created basically a book of memes called the dad book myself published it we created a daily calendar
(24:08):
dadism which did extremely well all these things it really well so we wrote another book called the dad law
and self published it and now even though I'm no longer with the dad this book is being published
this year and now it's called dad law so it's just dad law and it's basically a reimagining of
(24:32):
that book with the traditional publisher and we are super excited about it so are you
a writer on it a co-writer on it I guess who is this book coming out from the dad it's also what's the
I guess who who is the author what is the origin of this dad so here here you go I don't know if you
publish video from these things but here here's the here's the dad here is I'm gonna say
(24:56):
"Dud Dad Law" this is dad law written by Ali Probst and Joel Willis so we are the authors
on this thing it's also affiliated with the dad of course and it's published by a chronicle
chronicle books and so inside it what is it what is the context of it it's it's filled with
anecdotes it's filled with memes it's filled with laws what is the you know what is the context
(25:20):
the idea is when you become a dad and apparently there are certain things that you just
catch yourself doing like immediately and I would take it a step further and say you have to
do those things those are the dad law those things you have to do like and it's just a collection of those
things separated by different topics so dad vice and cliches is section X well the first one up
(25:47):
section X article nine a dad more or minus family if it ain't broke don't fix it
that's it's it's hundreds or thousands of those sorts of things and if you're eating like me you
probably think you're so I probably don't do that many cliches that things but if you flip through
(26:10):
it's like oh my god I do all of this and that's it yeah every dad is different but I'm sure there's
that there's some underlying themes that probably mostly all of us or anybody yeah you know you have
kids and also you just to everyone says I don't want to turn into my own father but then like
somehow you just turn into your own dad it's like those progressive commercials that are actually pretty funny
(26:31):
of like we can't you know we can't help you from turning into your parent those are like kind of
give me a left so let's play actually speaking of dad isums and things let's do a quick game of
dad lives you down for some dad lives I love it I love it I guess do this so give me let me get to adjectives
(26:51):
oh my god I gotta I gotta reframe my state of mind for this I haven't heard you do this before what
what are we looking for here are they very dad related adjectives or just be anything okay
hilarious and smelly I mean if you if you play adlips with like my kids or any kid really I think
(27:16):
that like all the answers are like fart but poop and stuff right and they do work and usually they do work
you know but the makers of you know I'm a bad man to know that I keep that in mind give me a
adverb um hastily all right let me get a number I gotta go three on this I gotta go number three
(27:44):
let me get another adjective smart let me get an emotion
devastated let me get a song lyric that's long lyric okay um haters gonna hate I'm going to see
(28:10):
Taylor Swift with my daughter this summer and I'm so excited we're gonna we're gonna dress up
from with our favorite Taylor Swift album like inspired by our favorite Taylor Swift album it's
gonna be incredible she is she is Swifty oh yeah I mean me too well you said you gotta get to you said
it get into what your kids are into so you are now rocking Taylor Swift I like it 100% you know I'm
(28:38):
ever more I love ever more now she is a braid in the back of my flannel shirt and I told her I want
to wear a braid to the concert like just like that she doesn't want she doesn't want me to do that
so take care of you me a body part oh I gotta go but we're gone but I like it all right give me a period of time
(29:00):
um we'll say the late 1900s I guess I guess not a time period I guess I length of time a length of time
but that works Taylor um we'll say a century that what you mean century perfect perfect
(29:24):
uh let's get me a uh favorite internet meme um I'll go with the uh this is fine dog
you know I mean one in the fire yep and I get me one more uh and be off of the verb um well we
(29:49):
here we'll go for it we'll do for it I'm gonna keep it soft and more it all right let's run this one back
as a hilarious father of two smelly kids I can easily say that being a dad is the number three
smartest thing I ever happened to me when we first found out we were gonna be parents my first reaction was
pure devastation as I shouted haters gonna hate at the top of my butt as I knew my life would be
(30:13):
changed for a century being a father's a lot like this is fine dog every day I just want to fart with joy
wow that's it's her now better than I expected that was that was one of the best ones I think that
really uh that hit it that hit nicely that was that was art that was art that you know that is how
(30:35):
arts made why do artists spend all the time working out things when they could just do something as simple
as that just add a little I think that's what they're doing I think Taylor Swift songs are just
dad lives just a series of ad lives that was amazing thank you so let's yeah no that was great let's
see a couple of rapid father questions all right so these are some would you rather which rather
changed dirty diapers are a symbol kids toys oh man I don't mind either of those things just I guess a
(31:02):
symbol kids toys yeah be in charge of the morning routine or the bedtime routine bedtime for sure
not a morning person be in charge of cutting toenails or attending pediatrician appointments
I don't mind you that this thing's the toenails good it's less time would you rather your kid wake up two
(31:24):
hours earlier or stay up two hours past bedtime two hours past bedtime for sure yeah easy
would you rather get a call to come to your kid school because they poop themselves or because they
cursed out their teacher I got 11 and 13 year olds they poop themselves oh lord we've got a problem
(31:46):
I cursed out of the teacher and stuff like this point so I guess well this one's not real well I
guess you kind of said it at the beginning but what's your what's your kid's favorite food to eat or take
off their plate that yeah you wouldn't probably eat if you never kids how would you yeah little bites
little bites are up there I would say my daughter loves mac and cheese though I probably wouldn't
(32:11):
need as much mac and cheese if it weren't for that so we're mac and cheese yes what's your biggest
dadism which that you would that you could proclaim from the dad law from the book what's your
biggest dadism something you can't constantly give you crap for I'm certain that it is in
year and it may and I think it's something that I came up with so it's not like a cliche thing but
(32:34):
you know you correct me if I'm wrong but I say it is all the time there'll be like we're such
and such in the houses of mass and I say the first step to finding something is to start cleaning up
I say that all the time and now I just go first step to finding something and they know the rest
I'm certain it's in there just because it's something I say all the time but I don't know that that's
(32:59):
necessarily like a cliche what's your favorite dad joke you have just like a terrible dad joke
that always makes you laugh and similar to that your kids would be like okay great you know another one of
those dad jokes there's so many things about the dad that is a lie when it comes to me like I don't
(33:20):
I don't tell anybody if this isn't being reported but I don't I don't like grilling
I'd rather cook on a cast iron skillet and have all of my kitchen I see a lot of content from the
dad about manning the grill and being on that barbecue don't tell anybody I don't I don't know
cargo shorts I have the white new balance but only for video shoots and so I don't think that I
(33:52):
tell too many dad jokes like the cheesy kind I don't think I do I started to like ironically
and it kind of stuck a little bit I think that's how they get you which is another dadism but I do
get asked this a lot so I do have one handy and ready to go let's count you're handy one give me
your hand it's is more of a story really but last night I rearranged the labels on my wife's
(34:19):
spices and the spice cabinet and she hasn't found out yet but the time is cumin
I like it I like it I like it but I said that one on the radio and I just made it my daughter
earring it and she rolls her eyes so her genomes falls asleep oh that's that but that's what dad
(34:45):
jokes do what's nice like my kids are at an age now we're like dad jokes are great it's
any jokes great I mean like my kids think I'm the funniest greatest thing in the world so I'm just
gonna keep I'm gonna keep reaping the benefits of that until they get to the point where they're like go away dad
only my wife and also rise right now that's I'm at the point where like my wife just rolls her eyes but the
kids just love it and that's what I see it's the kids energy that's the audience I'm trying to please
(35:08):
never my wife I don't please my wife never my wife that's right they're feeding them bear they're
feeding them bear with the laughter and you're gonna keep that you're gonna keep ample fine
that until it comes back to bite on when they uh when they don't they don't care for it anymore
it will come so what's up and you learned from your first kid that helped you with your second
kid something that you went to known had you not had a first child oh um I feel like it's a little
(35:37):
more universal but like I feel like with your first one you're very concerned about everything maybe
little overbearing in particular about things which is good it shows that you care um I think I think you
can overdo it I think having a little bit of a they'll figure it out on their own kind of mentality is
(35:59):
definitely helpful and I think that only comes with the second the second child what gives you the most
pride as a father oh my gosh there's so many things if it's taken me a while to answer it's just because
there's there's a lot my kids are are amazing they're the best just so so funny and intelligent I
(36:22):
guess I would say this like I feel very proud when they can do things completely without me
I guess they don't need my help and they can go off and do something maybe they have a problem and they
just figure it out on their own and they have that confidence to be able to think like I can figure this
(36:42):
out and then they do and then they they've accomplished it because that's what parenting is all about it's like
raising your kids to get to the point where they don't need you at all just as terrible
like just trying to face you try to face yourself out that's all you're trying to do is make yourself
less needed yeah yeah I'm gonna be obsolete so when they when they do that I'm like yes I'm doing
(37:06):
my job that's great and any advice for new dads or you know expecting dads of things that maybe you
botched out the gate something that you maybe did that you're like well maybe back in time
my maybe shouldn't have done that or just a learning experience that you could help one new dad
maybe avoid I think the nature of that like what do you what do you regret question it can tend to
(37:30):
instill some fear and new dads like there's going to be all these things that I need to be careful not to
do or all regret it or whatever so I want to answer it that way I'll just say this just try your best
like just show up do your thing don't worry about it you're gonna mess some stuff out probably
definitely you will so instead my advice will be this take lots of pictures and videos
(37:54):
social media gets a bad racket rightfully so for a lot of reasons sometimes I'm like why am I
posting on social media all the time why am I doing this what's the point but then I get hit with like
memories like 10 years ago you know such and such and I'm like I yes this is why
so take take this photos and videos you will definitely regret that if you don't so then you have
(38:18):
all that stuff look back on all right I love it and leave me off with your definition of a good father what's
the definition in your mind of a good dad is a good dad is someone who tries is you know does
their best that's it I mean being involved like a dad is involved good dad is involved in tries
(38:45):
involved tries and eats tiny bites whenever whenever he has the chance the microscopic bites
the very very teeny nipples I think they're teeny nipples I like it contact the nvesto marketing people
(39:08):
I don't know thank you so much for hopping on yeah love it thanks for having me
my thanks to Joel for taking the time to hop on the podcast was really good to connect with him he's
obviously somebody who's been able to harness being a father into producing content more than most
people I know so he's done a really great job at that and really great guy and yeah looking forward to
(39:29):
checking out dad law if you want to follow him on social you could check him out at the Joel Willis that's
the Joel J.L. Willis W. I. L. L. I. S. on Twitter Instagram and please subscribe to the podcast like
review share with your friends always appreciate the support since we spoke so much about little bites
I think I'm going to go have some chocolate chip little bites take a bag for my kids I'm Tyler Gillman
(39:51):
this is father material
father material that my daddy I work my daddy he and I can do it by you.
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